Zagarnytska I. Childhood as a social phenomenon: philosophical conceptualization

The theoretical and methodological principles of development of the childhood phenomenon are summarized in the thesis; the philosophical analysis of its nature and importance for the potential of the individual and the dynamic development of the state in the context of modern civilization changes are held. The necessity of integrating of all aspects of the study of childhood as a separate and essential, creative phenomenon within a particular branch of scientific knowledge - philosophy of childhood - is explained. Socio-philosophical interpretation of childhood was formulated not only as a holistic integrative socio-cultural communicative space-time phenomenon with its values and meanings, but also as prevailing and to some extent controlled by the society totality of objects, processes, social institutions, those should prepare the younger generation for effective life in society. The preconditions and directions of the childhood transformation at the turn of the eras are researched; the contradictions between social and cultural awareness of the value of this phenomenon and the real attitude to the child in the postmodern era are shown. The nature and directions of deployment of the global processes which determine the distinctive features of the socialization and individualization of modern child are outlined; the content and patterns of disclosure uniqueness of human personality through philosophical reflection of the "indigo child" phenomenon are shown. The achievements and failures of Ukraine regarding the quality of childhood, the effectiveness of the domestic legal basis of its existence and development are studied. The value of pre-school education for the development of the child in the space of dynamic social transformations, the problems of modernization in the light of contemporary processes of social and economic development of Ukraine are analyzed.